Healthy Immune System

The immune system is continually in action throughout our lives. Immune cells and molecules sense and eliminate potential harms in our body every day, without our knowledge.

The immune system is our defense against foreign invaders — harmful bacteria, viruses and other pathogens — as well as other insults including the environment and precancerous and early cancer cells. The immune system is made from many different cells and molecules, most of which circulate in our bloodstreams to reach nearly every part of our bodies.

It also has a memory function as well as the ability to adjust to virtually any new challenge the world delivers to us and return us to balanced health. When the system is working perfectly, we stay healthy. But when the immune system is out of balance in either direction — too strong of an immune response or not enough — disease can often result.

To understand immune-related diseases, we need to first understand the cell types and molecules that make up a healthy immune system. In our work with our research partners at Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason and the University of Pennsylvania, we are defining a healthy human immune system at a scale and precision never done before.

We’ll work directly with volunteers and patients to establish a baseline of what a healthy immune system is and what then goes wrong when the scales tip and disease occurs. Our goal is to merge cutting-edge scientific methods for immunology research with traditional measures of health, both self-reported and measured in the clinic with our partners.

Healthy Immune Research Partners

Researchers at the Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason and the University of Pennsylvania are supporting our efforts to better understand the healthy immune system.